Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developer supplying system and a developer storage container adopting an electro-photographic technique, such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or a multifunction device.
Description of the Related Art
Developers are used in image forming apparatuses utilizing an electro-photographic technique. Since the image forming apparatus utilizes a developer to perform image forming, the developer is supplied and consumed to develop images during the image forming process. Therefore, in the image forming apparatus, a new developer is supplied through a developer supplying device (hereinafter simply referred to as a supplying device). A developer supplying container storing a developer to be supplied (hereinafter simply referred to as a supplying container) is provided insertably to and removably from the supplying device. A shutter is provided on an outlet port of the supplying container, to prevent leakage of the developer from the supplying container (US2014153974A1).
The shutter is attached to the supplying container in advance. The shutter has a pair of lock portions projected toward a direction of attachment to the supplying container and having an inclined surface formed on a tip portion thereof, so that the shutter can be attached easily to the supplying container when forming the supplying container. During attachment of the shutter to the supplying device, the shutter can be mounted smoothly to the supply container by having the lock portions elastically deform in response to the inclined surfaces of the lock portions being abutted against contact portions of the supplying container.
In a state where the supplying container having the shutter attached is mounted to the supplying device, the shutter is fixed to the supplying device by having the lock portions engage with a locked portion of the supplying device in midway of insertion to the supplying device, and thereafter, the supplying container moves relatively with respect to the shutter. The supplying container is moved to a position where the shutter is opened and the outlet port is exposed. Thereby, the outlet port of the supplying container is communicated with a receive port of the developing unit, and supplying of the developer from the supplying container to the developing unit is enabled. On the other hand, in a case where the supplying container is detached from the supplying device, the shutter must be returned to an initial position corresponding to a state where the supplying container is not yet mounted to the supplying device. The inclined surfaces of the lock portions are also utilized when returning the shutter to the initial position.
In the prior art, as described, inclined surfaces of the lock portions are utilized to realize “shutter attachment” when attaching the shutter to the supplying container, and “return of the shutter to the initial position” when detaching the supplying container from the supplying device. Therefore, it is necessary that the inclined surface of each lock portion is formed with an arbitrary inclination angle. Now, in order to realize smooth shutter attachment, it is preferable to set the inclination angle of the inclined surfaces as small as possible, to weaken a sliding resistance between the inclined surfaces and the contact portions during shutter attachment. On the other hand, in order to return the shutter infallibly to the initial position, it is preferable to set the inclination angle of the inclined surfaces as large as possible, to increase the sliding resistance between the inclined surfaces and the contact portions during detachment of the supplying container. In the prior art, the inclination angle is adjusted to satisfy these contradictory requests as much as possible to form the inclined surfaces. However, the adjustment of the inclination angle is performed only within a restricted range, and it was not possible to satisfy both the above-described requests.
In consideration of the above-described problems, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus, a developer supplying container and a shutter, capable of realizing both “shutter attachment” and “return of the shutter to the initial position” by a simple configuration.